The Infinity Saga boxset continues to provide a wealth of extra material for MCU fans, including a cut cameo for Captain Marvel in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Another recently released behind-the-scenes shot from Ultron though has reinforced both the dedication of Scarlett Johansson to her role, and the expert VFX that allowed her to do so.
The image in question, which you can catch below, shows Johansson’s Black Widow sporting a baby bump while suited up alongside Captain America. Needless to say, fans were impressed by the actress getting on with the filmmaking while pregnant.
At the time of Age of Ultron, Johansson was pregnant with Rose Dorothy Dauriac, something that the filmmakers worked around during shooting. Techniques reportedly ranged from Black Widow stunt doubles to costume tricks, camera angles, and VFX. Indeed, Johansson had three stand-ins for certain scenes, whereby her face would later be composited onto their bodies. From the behind-the-scenes talk for Age of Ultron, we know director Joss Whedon was keen to not have to cut any scenes of the actress due to the pregnancy.
The Reddit user sharing the pre-VFX image, u/Teatreevelvet, pointed out that, while Johansson’s production pregnancy was no secret, it wasn’t previously clear just how far along she was:
“Scarlett Johansson pregnant in a scene from Age of Ultron (from Infinity Saga Box Set) We all knew that she was pregnant during filming of this movie, but I at least didn’t know she was this far along while doing scenes (in the leather catsuit!).”
Another user, u/shellexyz, also reviewed some of the ways the Black Widow bump was likely concealed:
“There are lots of tricks for covering up or concealing bumps like that. You won’t fool anyone at 36 weeks but at 20 or so, having her stand behind the bar while she’s flirting with Banner will be effecting at covering that up. Having her in a makeshift prison behind bars while Ultron talks about his diabolical plan is effective at hiding the bump. Having her sit while the cough testosterone cough tries to lift the hammer is effective at concealing a modest bump.”
So, there you have it, further proof of how awesome Johansson has been as the heroine, if we needed any ahead of her standalone feature this year. Given how long it’s taken Black Widow to arrive, we’re glad that Johansson is finally getting her due after several questionable plotting choices in earlier MCU pictures. Of course, ScarJo isn’t the only actress who’s got on with the business of playing a superhero while pregnant, with Gal Gadot doing the same during reshoots for Wonder Woman, while the practice is pretty common on most productions.
In any case, Avengers: Age of Ultron fans can catch up with the special features on the Infinity Saga boxset, while we now only have a few months to wait for the arrival of Black Widow on May 1st.